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Petsmart pet groomer Danielle McFaul combs the hair of a teacup poodle at a Petsmart store January 28, 2003 in Niles, Illinois. Petsmart, Inc. is the leading specialty retailer for pet supplies. The company operates more than 580 pet stores in the U.S. and Canada, as well as a large pet supply catalog business and is the Internet's leading online provider of pet products and information. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

By
Anna Caplan, Rare.us

A Pennsylvania family is mourning the loss of their dog after it was mauled to death during a grooming session at a local PetSmart.

Betty Miller told WNEP that she dropped off her 12-year-old dog named Brewster at a PetSmart location in Dickson City.

Later that day, Miller received a call that her beloved bichon had been transported to an animal hospital after it was attacked by another dog, a pit bull. Brewster died before he arrived at the hospital, WNEP reported.

“I felt so guilty the day it happened because we would say to him, ‘You want to go bye-bye?’ And he’d hop in that car, and he didn’t know it was going to be his last ride,” Miller told the news station. “It was hard, very, very hard. He’s been with us for 12 years.”

While details about the incident remain unclear, Miller said her dog was “bait” for the pit bull.

“Why would you want to bring a pit bull past a small dog who's really just bait?” she said, according to WNEP.

PetSmart officials offered a statement in defense of the incident:

“We are truly saddened by the loss of Brewster. The health, safety and well-being of the pets in our care is our top priority, and we immediately launched an internal investigation to better understand what led to this tragic accident. We have high standards of care in place and are actively gathering more information to determine any policy or procedural violations. We welcome all dogs, regardless of their breed, into our grooming salons provided they are well-behaved.”